New-look session; all eyes on whether GST gets nod

The monsoon session of parliament is in many ways an almost new-look session.

First, it has a new team from the government , most carefully chosen either with an eye on UP polls, or more importantly, to get key bills like GST Bill. It also comes with some humiliation for the BJP having lost face in Arunachal this week and Uttarakhand earlier .

It also comes in the backdrop of ongoing turmoil in Kashmir and the brazen defiance by Pakistan. All this means it may not be a fair weather monsoon session for the government.

Sources say however the Prime Minister is keen to walk the extra mile to ensure he sends out the message that the growth agenda of the government is intact.

The bad press and corporate unhappiness over the Raghuram Rajan incident has worried the PM that this message may be lost. Sources say the PM has made it clear to his team that come what may, no matter how much extra mile it may have to walk, the passage of GST is crucial.

The Congress is caught in a bind. It wants to be difficult, wishing to pay back the government for attacks on the Gandhis over the Vadra land issue, Agusta and National Herald. Yet, after claiming that the GST was their brainchild. the Congress cannot be seen as resisting for long

Sources also say some kind of a trade-off has been arrived at. There is a possibility that the government would go a little soft on the Congress on issues like Agusta till the GST is cleared .

This session is likely to be influenced by two factors . One, of course, the upcoming crucial Uttar Pradesh elections which also decided the new team of PM Modi. But it’s also the one in which parties like TMC, JDU, BSP and SP will run the House.

Th last session didn’t end too badly with several bills being passed. But this time all eyes would be on whether the GST finally gets the nod.